On Monday (Oct. 25), photographer Edwig Henson posted a photoset he took of SZA wearing a blue string bikini with sleek straight hair and clear high heels. Though fans and friends of the singer reveled in her beauty, it appears that the photos were posted without the consent of the 31-year-old artist.
Taking to Twitter, the CTRL singer wrote, “Releasing pictures of me w/out my consent is scary . Y’all be careful working w folk u don’t know well.” When one fan sought context and asked if this tweet was in reference to the aforementioned photos, SZA replied in a since-deleted tweet. “He literally text me [and] said ‘sorry if u never wanna work w me again but I decided I’m releasing these’ never felt more powerless or disrespected,” she wrote.
Following the deleted tweet, SZA continued, “Lemme pray. Cause karma realer than anything Twitter got.”
Henson has since limited commenting on the Instagram post as fans began to report it. SZA commented on the post, “I begged u not to post these.”
Top Dawg Entertainment President, Punch, has also expressed that Henson is unresponsive to their attempts to reach him to get the post removed. “Anybody know this dude @Edwiggery? This man leaked a whole photo shoot of SZA WITHOUT permission. Now he’s not responding,” tweeted Punch.
After SZA deleted the tweet where she expressed feeling “powerless,” she revealed why she chose to not release the images now. The New Jersey native tweeted, “If I don’t want pics out cause I don’t wanna fight w My ex , or my album not done and I wanna wait or I decided i DONT wanna be wanna be hyper-sexualized in that way rn . Das my choice as a woman. As a human.”
Releasing pictures of me w out my consent is scary . Y’all be careful working w folk u don’t know well .
— SZA (@sza) October 26, 2021
He literally text me m said “sorry if u never wanna work w me again but I decided I’m releasing these” never felt more powerless or disrespected. https://t.co/0oCrYDE1Yz
— SZA (@sza) October 26, 2021
If I don’t want pics out cause I don’t wanna fight w My ex , or my album not done and I wanna wait or I decided i DONT wanna be wanna be hyper-sexualized in that way rn . Das my choice as a woman . As a human .
— SZA (@sza) October 26, 2021